Preserving Madagascar’s Unique Species

National Geographic Emerging Explorer Dr. Luke Dollar, a biologist, has been returning to Madagascar for the past 17 years. Luke originally came to study lemurs, but after his study animal was eaten by the island’s top predator, the Fossa, Luke switched to studying these mysterious cat-like animals. Madagascar’s forests, the fossa’s habitat, have declined nearly 93 percent, with the remaining 7 percent under pressure from an expanding human population. Luke’s hope is to find a sustainable balance between the Malagasy people who depend on the forests, and the natural species that live there.

Preserving Madagascar’s Unique Species

National Geographic Emerging Explorer Dr. Luke Dollar, a biologist, has been returning to Madagascar for the past 17 years. Luke originally came to study lemurs, but after his study animal was eaten by the island’s top predator, the Fossa, Luke switched to studying these mysterious cat-like animals. Madagascar’s forests, the fossa’s habitat, have declined nearly 93 percent, with the remaining 7 percent under pressure from an expanding human population. Luke’s hope is to find a sustainable balance between the Malagasy people who depend on the forests, and the natural species that live there.

Preserving Madagascar’s Unique Species

National Geographic Emerging Explorer Dr. Luke Dollar, a biologist, has been returning to Madagascar for the past 17 years. Luke originally came to study lemurs, but after his study animal was eaten by the island’s top predator, the Fossa, Luke switched to studying these mysterious cat-like animals. Madagascar’s forests, the fossa’s habitat, have declined nearly 93 percent, with the remaining 7 percent under pressure from an expanding human population. Luke’s hope is to find a sustainable balance between the Malagasy people who depend on the forests, and the natural species that live there.